Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/mat.11.28-29/77080
Psalm 100
1 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
This Psalm gives us the way that we should be worshiping Him every day! Why should we be so joyful? Because He has saved us from an eternity of separation from Him. That would be an unbearable eternity even if it wasn’t accompanied by the fire of the lake of fire. You will be in a place where there is no life-sustaining water or love…forever!
Why would anyone want to be in such a place? Seek out your Savior because He loved you enough to come and die for your sins so that you might live with Him into eternity. God knew that each of us would need Him at some point in our lives. Some of us will seek Him out and give our lives to Him and some of us will hear messages about His love and forgiveness, sometimes for years, and they may never give their life to Him. Why?
Some of us are not interested in following Him even if we feel that tug on our heart and we recognize it as the Holy Spirit. Is it because we think we are good enough or that we don’t need Him? I can’t say that about anyone because I don’t know your heart. I know at one time that I fell into that deceit about my own idea of my righteousness. God knows your heart and He knows that you need Him, so when He touches your heart you should listen to His call and respond to it.
Should we give thanks and be joyful in our worship of Him? Yes, every day! Because there is no other way for us to be saved, and we cannot save ourselves, from an eternity of separation if we don’t accept Him as our Savior. Some believe that they don’t need Jesus as their Savior. How could that be true? He came and paid the penalty for all of the sins of the world, every person’s sins and their penalty. Could you do that? No! He was and is the only One Who could fulfill all of the prophecies about Himself that were in the Old Testament and He did!
God loves you. He made it possible for you to have an eternity with Him in a place where everything is made to exalt Him and show His love for His creation. Eternity with Him will be the most enjoyable time of your life and there will never be a day with pain or tears or problems during that time.
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/rom.12.2/2600
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/2co.3.17/10796
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:7 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1jn.4.7/13737
10Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Every day should be as a holy day unto our Lord because Christians have salvation through Jesus Christ! We were chosen by Him to be His and to be a blessing to those around us because of our joy in Him. Have you ever thought about why you should have such assurance in Him? Consider what you have been saved from. When you gave your heart to Jesus and began following Him daily, not just on Sundays or holidays, the Holy Spirit changed your heart to be a new creation in Jesus Christ. You are not the same person who was born on a particular day to your parents. You are a new Christian born of the Spirit into God’s family and a joint heir with Jesus Christ! That is enough to bring joy into your life!
We have also been saved from an eternity of misery and pain by being in hell because of our choice to refuse God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ. There will be many people in hell who thought they would be in heaven and there will likely be some in heaven who thought they might be in hell. Salvation brings us to a place where we can be part of God’s family and assured of a home in heaven. We are brought to the point of salvation by God’s Spirit touching our lives and convicting us of our NEED for Him. That is when we feel an overpowering need to find Jesus and to ask Him for His forgiveness. Most people will follow through with seeking Him out and beginning their journey with Him, but some will turn away.
Those who turn away from God’s calling for them to be saved will likely be doomed to hell because once you have been brought to the conviction of your need for salvation and then turn away, you will not be brought back again. If you accept it then you will be saved from that eternal punishment but there is no middle ground…no gray areas where you can be a Christian and then keep being your “old self” whenever you feel like it. Living and being a Christian is like being pregnant…you either are or you’re not!
God loves each of us and those that He calls to belong to Him are convicted by God’s Holy Spirit to know that what they were doing before He called them was sinful and they need to repent of it and follow Jesus. Have you felt that tug on your heart? Have you made your decision to follow Jesus Christ or will you turn away from Him? No decision is a decision and it may be one that you’ll regret for eternity.
There is none holy as the LORD: For there is none beside thee: Neither is there any rock like our God. 1 Samuel 2:2 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1sa.2.2/5785
Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, And that seek him with the whole heart. Psalm 119:2 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/psa.119.2/692
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isaiah 6:8 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/isa.6.8/56521
Was Jesus just a man, like many people seem to think? An ordinary man could not walk on water. An ordinary man could not walk up to a grave after his friend was buried four days before and call him from the grave by name. An ordinary man could not orchestrate the place of His birth or His parents…God did. Jesus was and is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, and He has brought hope and healing to many millions of people in the last two thousand years. No normal “man” could do that.
Jesus died on a cross, one of the cruelest ways to die, and He was buried in a borrowed tomb but He rose again and walked out of that tomb on the third day. During the time after His resurrection, He was seen by all of His disciples and by at least five hundred at one time. Then He was taken up into the clouds while His disciples watched and two angels told them, “Why do you stand gazing into the sky after Him. He will come again in like manner one day”.
Jesus is our Savior and our Hope and the many who have placed their hearts and their hope in Him over time could attest to that. Many thousands of people have died for their faith in Him and you wouldn’t die for a lie or for “just a normal man or a prophet”. Many have died for their faith in Him that they wouldn’t recant and the “church” caused many of those deaths because people were reading God’s Word in their own language rather than coming to mass and listening to the Word of God being read to them in Latin. One day that church will be judged for those deaths.
God is waiting for the last person to come to know Jesus as their Savior and when that time comes, the church will be taken up and the world will mourn because they missed it. But then they will find another “messiah” and the time of Jacob’s Trouble will begin. The Earth will become more like hell than heaven during this time and I pray that any or all who would like to know Jesus as their Savior will seek Him out today because none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.
The Living Message of Christ 